1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a short range wireless technology and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for a short-range communication, e.g., Bluetooth, -enabled headset that controls signal output paths for received audio signals through switching between a normal headset mode and FM transmission mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Bluetooth network is normally referred to as a ‘piconet’, wherein a master Bluetooth device is connected to a plurality of slave Bluetooth devices through Bluetooth communication protocol. In the Bluetooth piconetwork each slave device can receive data from the master device. A plurality of piconets can be connected to one another to form a ‘scatternet’.
Users of Bluetooth enabled mobile terminals exchange data among themselves using Bluetooth communication protocol. In particular, a Bluetooth enabled headset can be wirelessly connected to a Bluetooth-enabled mobile terminal, to enable interactive voice conversation and enabling listening to songs in the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) format.
A voice call using a mobile terminal and Bluetooth-enabled headset proceeds as follows. The Bluetooth-enabled headset receives a voice signal from the user through its own microphone, and sends the received voice signal to the mobile terminal through Bluetooth communication. The mobile terminal then transmits the voice signal from the Bluetooth enabled headset to another mobile terminal via a wireless communication network, for example.
The headset also receives an audio signal from the mobile terminal, and outputs the received audio signal through its own speaker. The audio signal includes a voice signal originated from another mobile terminal, or an acoustic signal of an audio file played by the mobile terminal.
However, the speaker of a headset is small and has a low output power level. Hence, audio sounds from the headset may be not heard by nearby persons. That is, nearby persons cannot enjoy music together using the same headset.
To solve this problem, a separate special purpose speaker, which is connectible to a headset through a universal serial bus (USB) or Bluetooth connection, may be used. However, such a separate special purpose speaker has a limitation in usage and portability, and is unsuitable for a vehicle.